Temple President to Live Alongside Students

Temple University has been working for more than a year to address safety concerns after a student was shot and killed last fall in a neighborhood adjacent to the Philadelphia campus; now its president will take up residence in the area.

Amid the ongoing safety concerns of students and parents, President Jason Wingard and his family are moving from Chestnut Hill to a university-owned house a block away from campus. Wingard will live alongside a large contingent of students who rent in the neighborhood. The reason for the move, the university announced Tuesday, is to enhance community engagement.

Concerns around student safety near campus has prompted action from both Temple and parents. Earlier this year parents of Temple students hired private security to patrol near campus. Temple has introduced various efforts to reduce violent crime, including paying landlords to make security upgrades on properties near campus, ranking off-campus housing by security features, hiring more campus police officers and creating a vice president of public safety role.